Manufacturers Renew Court Battle Against the NLRB

Poster Rule Threatens Greater Damage to the American Workplace

September 11, 2012

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons issued a statement after the NAM presented oral arguments in its appeal of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s ruling in favor of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the “posting requirement” rule issued by the agency last year.

In a similar case this past April, the U.S. District Court in South Carolina struck down the poster rule and validated the NAM’s arguments. Following the ruling, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ordered a delay in implementing the rule until the matter was fully adjudicated. The appeal, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, requests the Court to invalidate the entire rule and asserts the Board has overstepped its statutory authority and ignored congressional intent by issuing the rule.

“Manufacturers have led the fight against the Board’s aggressive agenda and overreach. We have fought this battle on all fronts, including the courtroom, because without immediate action to rein in this agency, we will see even more damage to the American workplace. More than 60 percent of manufacturers have said that an unfriendly businesses environment, including the regulatory morass, is their greatest obstacle to growth.

We firmly believe that the South Carolina District Court ruled correctly by striking down the rule and that the NLRB has egregiously overstepped its authority granted by Congress. Our case is illustrative of the Board’s actions in recent years—actions that create hostile work environments where none exist and put the Board into businesses’ day-to-day decision-making processes. It is our hope that the appeals court will recognize this, overturn the D.C. District Court’s decision and lay down a marker that this type of overreach in service of a broader agenda will not be tolerated.”